A great game you're probably not playing...

[noel]

Not sure if any of you have checked out 'Sniper Elite', but it's really a lot of fun. If like me, you're sick and tired of FPS games with zombies and aliens and bullshit to scare the shit out of you instead of providing you with a fun, tactical game, Sniper Elite may be for you.

The concept is, you're an OSS sniper, right at the end of WWII/beginning of the cold war. You're in Germany assisting the German Resistance and US government in keeping the Russians from establishing too strong a foothold and potentially controlling all of Europe.

Most of the gameplay takes place in a third person ala GTA, but the majority of the game revolves around your ability to identify and snipe targets before they see you and overwhelm you. Should you get a long-range headshot or covert-headshot, you're treated to a Max-Payne esque bullet-following sequence where your targets head explodes appropriately based on the location of your bullet. To add to the realism, if you choose to play on 'Sniper-Elite' level (which is a blast btw), you have to aim with gravity (bullet fall) and wind in mind.

So far, it's quite a fun game. The graphics aren't the greatest in all of history, but the gameplay is a lot of fun, and it's an interesting new perspective on the very tired WWII FPS genre. It runs great on my PC, and for you console junkies, it's available on X-box and PS2 as well. I'd personally not want to be aiming with a joystick, but if that's your thing, it's at least worth a rental.

Edit: Almost forgot to add. The game allows you to set up tripwire grenades to cover your position. In a recent mission, I was being pursued by a group of Soviet special forces. I layered tripmines throughout an area that would be their point of attack, and then picked off the stragglers. Very satisfying.

[Neziroth]

I concur with everything noel said.

My only complaint is I don't find myself in enough perches (a la the "extract the agent" mission series) but instead on the ground in narrow streets and alleys with noplace to really hide.

Good game though, worth buying for PC for sure.

[Leonaerd]

Most of the gameplay takes place in a third person ala GTA, but the majority of the game revolves around your ability to identify and snipe targets before they see you and overwhelm you.

The sniping is done in a third person viewpoint?

[Neziroth]

Movement is third person, but once you bring up Binoculars or your scope it goes to the "through your eyes" PoV.

It works pretty well.

[noel]

Thanks for checking it out Neziroth.

I finally finished it not too long ago, and I remember thinking it was a lot longer than I expected it to be.

[Neziroth]

Yeah I saw it one day in EB and looked at it, figured it was another "budgetware" game (dunno if i used that word right but it felt so good!) and I put it back without too much hesitation.

I read your review here that same day and the next time I was in the area I stopped and gave it a shot. I'm not regretting it.

Just made a 355 yard moving headshot covert kill with gravity / no wind BEAT THAT!

p.s. if i had broadband I'd be challenging you but I don't so you're going to have to deal with my trashtalk that I have no way of backing up.